Hedgehog Mining Company
Hedgehog Mining Company is an ore prospecting and exploitation company based in Pellvyr, Laedor Thilis. The company was founded in 903 LC by Gondwen Huckstone, an inn proprietor and founder of Hedgehog Brews. The activities of Hedgehog Mining take place in and around Bothandal's Mine, an area that is rich in iron, gold and zholtan.
Assets
To finance operations, Huckstone entered an agreement with Clan Kandarin. The company was divided into 500 shares of equal size, each appraised at 300 gold pieces by Clan Kandarin, which expected the mines to reach a profit of 100 gold pieces per day in 907 LC. The Clan bought 250 of these shares (the bank shares) and Gondwen was left with the other 250 (the company shares). Each share gives its holder the right to annually collect 0.2% of the company's profits that year. Moreover, a buyback agreement was put in place: at any time after 905 LC, Hedgehog Mining Company will buy back bank shares at the original cost if so offered. All shares are transferable and can be publicly trades: the Clan Kandarin and Hedgehog Mining Company are committed to the administration of share ownership.
The company shares were further divided among some of the adventurers who helped Huckstone locate and secure the mine. Tijl Morgenster received 25 shares, as did Glückmock. Gordon Litefoot and Jillith 451 each received 5 shares. Each of them was also given an account for the Kandarin banking system, in which the annual dividend would be deposited. This left Huckstone with 190 company shares, allowing him to pocket 38% of the company profits.
Huckstone invested the finances into mining and drilling equipment and placed a call for able miners to join his operations.
History
Gondwen Huckstone was the proprietor of The Scared Hare, an inn in Nadi, when Contingent 17 of the Imperial Army arrived in town. One evening, a group of gnome officers (including, unbeknownst to Huckstone, the Blade of Dorgoth agent Eribell Plopkettle) came in for drinks and challenged Huckstone and the local drunk Glückmock for a game of Gods at War with stakes. Drunk and overconfident, Plopkettle added an ancient elven map, which he was carrying as part of a secret mission, to the bet. Unfortunately for Plopkettle, Huckstone won the game and took the map.
Glückmock informed Huckstone that he had seen maps like that before, but could not really remember where. He did know, however, that Lou the Conjurer in Pellvyr, near his own accomodation in the swamp of Laedor Thilis, knew about these things. And so they traveled to Pellvyr where Lou divined what the map was about: it pointed towards an ancient mine which had been the private property of King Bothandal the Crafter. Huckstone, never shying away from a business opportunity, knew he had struck gold. He imagined himself exploiting the mine and figured that the sleepy town of Pellvyr would go through a boom, prompting him to buy the worn down local bar and name it The Gold and Red, after the colors that pointed towards the magical significance of the map.
The Gold and Red was to become his base of operations while setting up Hedgehog Mining Company, but things quickly became more complicated. The Blade of Dorgoth was still after the map, as was a mysterious blue-haired wizard named Blue Death, who collaborated with the hobgoblin king Krikk the Dancer. While traveling between Nadi and Pellvyr, Huckstone and his friend Sigrid Brightface were kidnapped by goblins and Huckstone was put into the service of Krikk. Only through the efforts of a group of adventurers did Huckstone get rescued, but two of those adventurers (Ballelds Landidith and Bor Durlyne) stole his map and brought it to the Kingdom of Laeryll.
This did not deter Huckstone and after many trials and tribulations he and a band of adventurers located Bothandal's Mine near Chicken's Beak and secured it, including the legendary Crafting Room of Bothandal. Once it was secured, Huckstone returned to Pellvyr to start work on setting up Hedgehog Mining Company.
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